O'Reilly concedes in judge race

From Sherry Coolidge:

At midnight, 1st District Court of Appeals candidate Jim O'Reilly conceded:

"While I respect and accept the voters’ decision, I must express my concern at the loss of diverse viewpoints now that the appeals court becomes 6-0 Republican, and the Supreme Court shifts to 7-0 Republican. The citizens of Hamilton County told us they wanted change, but their votes were roughly the same as the last contested race, in 2002, which also lost by about 60-40. Our campaign reached thousands of Hamilton County residents and found support in dozens of communities. We thank those who worked for change and we hope that future challengers will work as hard and devote as much energy to the needs of the people as our team members have done. We remain convinced that accountability will someday come to our courthouse. "